"T-Mobile's Un-carrier approach is resonating with customers," CEO John Legere said in a statement, adding that "we are fixing the things that drive customers crazy."

In July, T-Mobile also unveiled its "Jump" trade-in program, allowing for early device upgrades. The carrier has since garnered more than 2.2 million Jump enrollments, T-Mobile said today.

But one area in which T-Mobile hasn't yet excelled is tablets. Recently, though, the carrier added the Apple iPad to its lineup, the last major U.S. carrier to do so. In an effort to attract tablet customers, the carrier announced that it would offer 200MB of free monthly tablet data to all customers for the life of their device.

The "free" part of the deal, however, caused confusion for some. Over the weekend, CNET reported that those who opt to finance the purchase of their tablet will be required to sign up for a service plan, which starts at $20 per month.

T-Mobile confirmed that in a Q&A posted on its website. Those who opt to pay off their tablet over 24 months will be required to sign up for a monthly service plan. That starts at $20 per month for 500MB, but customers will still get the free 200MB, for 700MB total.

T-Mobile's finance option "is the same for tablets as it has been for phones," the carrier said. "We are happy to extend credit to you for a device with a value of several hundred dollars, but we do require that you establish a paying service relationship with us. You're not locked in to a long-term service contract."

T-Mobile offers the option to pay the full price of a tablet up front, in which case users don't have to sign up for a monthly service plan and get that 200MB of free monthly data without any other sort of commitment.

Meanwhile, CNET also reported on a $10 charge T-Mobile users were forced to pay when signing on for tablet service. The carrier said in its Q&A that that was a mistake.

"We had an executional error in our system at launch that created an erroneous $10.00 charge for network access," T-Mobile said. "We have worked in the days since launch to correct this issue in the system and through employee training. There is no $10.00 per month fee for the 200MB of free data. We are crediting any customer that was erroneously charged this fee."

Legere took to Twitter this week to apologize for the mix-up and offer explanation in 140 characters or less. He also took a moment to cheer on his company's third-quarter success.

The only time you need to have a paying service agreement with us is if you're financing a tablet. You'll get 200MB of free data too.

About the Author

Stephanie joined PCMag in May 2012, moving to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She interned at Baltimore magazine and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (in the town of Indiana, in the state of Pennsylvania) with a degree in ... See Full Bio

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